De Blasio seen shifting approach as election nears

SITTING PRETTY: The mayor's approval ratings are mediocre, but polls show him far ahead of his little-known opponents.

In the months leading up to the 2017 election, Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced free legal services for tenants in housing court, a road map to shutter Rikers Island and a proposal to fund subway repairs by taxing the city’s wealthy. He also has delayed a Garment District rezoning, kept a construction-safety bill stalled in the City Council and punted to a commission the consideration of which public statues are offensive.

It was typical of a mayor who specializes in sweeping, symbolic gestures, not the fine print of policy ideas. Such an approach carried him into Gracie Mansion four years ago and has kept his approval rating among Democratic voters high enough to deter a challenge from other leading members of the party, even as he scores lackluster ratings from the electorate at large. Actual governing has created vulnerabilities for the mayor, including on his signature issue of affordable housing, as he has tried to foster new units without spiking fears of gentrification.

“The de Blasio style is always about doing two things that are opposite at the same time: being against displacement while at the same time helping developers through the process to build more in the name of affordable housing,” veteran political consultant Hank Sheinkopf said. “It’s being progressive when it works and not taking risks where you can get hurt.”

With polls suggesting the mayor will coast on the path to re-election against token opposition in next week’s Democratic primary and November’s general election, his swings at big-ticket items—and grabs at national prominence—have gotten broader, even as he puts off truly tough fights.

Of the major policy initiatives the mayor has unveiled this year, only right-to-counsel got done immediately. The Rikers plan calls for the city to phase out the jail complex over a decade, with the initial stages not even starting until 2021. That largely shifts the pain and labor of establishing replacement jails around the five boroughs—in the face of certain community opposition—to his successor. Meanwhile, the mayor gets bragging rights as he canvasses the communities of color that make up his base and seeks the national spotlight—even though he had for years resisted calls to close Rikers.

“He couldn’t be the last progressive to get behind closing Rikers Island,” said Queens Councilman Rory Lancman, a frequent liberal critic of de Blasio. “I think he’s definitely playing it safe and sort of running out the clock.”

Similarly, insiders agreed de Blasio’s pro-posed millionaires’ tax is mostly about posture. His call to hike city in-come taxes on individuals earning at least $500,000 per year and on households making $1 million or more would need Albany’s approval, which the mayor lacks the political wherewithal to get.

But it cuffed Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has tempered his fiscally conservative instincts in pursuit of a national Democratic profile, and diverted attention from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s request for money from the mayor’s current bud-get. Most of all, it polished de Blasio’s image as a populist crusader.

Buying time

Meanwhile, issues less significant to Democratic primary voters, such as the administration’s proposal to allow conversions to office space in Mid-town’s depleted Garment District, will get pushed back until after the campaign, temporarily silencing critics such as Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer.

“There’s a big distinction between issues that impact the election and issues that just sort of come up,” said Bradley Tusk, a former aide to Sen-ate Minority Leader Charles Schumer and ex-Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “There’s not a single person whose vote will be impacted by the Garment District rezoning.”

And giving a commission 90 days to determine how to deal with controversial monuments—notably that of Christopher Columbus in his eponymous circle at West 59th Street—will push the worst of any uproar beyond the Nov. 7 election while absolving de Blasio of culpability for the decision.

The mayor will lose a certain amount of political clout next year, because he will be in his final term and contending with a new and probably more hostile council speaker. But he also will have shaken off any obligation to face the voters again and will continue to possess the biggest megaphone in the city.

“He will still have among those who elected him and those who kept him in power a deep sense of moral standing,” Sheinkopf predicted.

“What you don’t do in an election year is create controversy,” he added. “Lead with your strengths, don’t make too many waves, and don’t put yourself in too many public situations where you can get hurt.”

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